Featured Stories

Manchester United unwilling to let go of Barcelona’s Fabregas without a fight while Chelsea reject Liverpool’s bid for Ryan Bertrand.

Manchester United make improved bid for Cesc Fabregas

Fabregas could move to Manchester United this summer

It has been reported that Manchester United have made an improved bid of 30 million pounds for Cesc Fabregas, showcasing their resolve in landing the Barcelona midfielder. The Catalans have already turned down a bid of £26million from the Red Devils, clearly stating that Fabregas was not for sale. Barcelona Vice President stated that

‘”Barcelona will not entertain any offers for Cesc. He is non-transferable.“

Manchester United however don’t look in the mood to bog down anytime soon and the circumstances might just necessitate it from their perspective. While David Moyes is yet to make a marquee signing this summer, he has already lost out on Thiago Alcantara to Bayern Munich and Wayne Rooney also looks set to move this summer, with Jose Mourinho blandly stating that he is Chelsea’s only target for the transfer window. All this time, ‘Noisy Neighbours’ Manchester City have been bringing in players from all corners of Europe and are building up a frighteningly strong squad. At a critical juncture such as this (Sir Alex’s departure), United can’t seem to be going weak and are likely to push Barcelona on this to the brink.

The Blaugrana have their own reasons for not letting Fabregas go. Even though he has been far from the success story he was at Arsenal, Barcelona might not be willing to weaken their midfielder further, after Thiago joined former coach Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich. Fabregas himself might not be willing to walk down the ‘van Persie road’ in joining Manchester United, Arsenal’s arch-rivals. With so many factors weighing in, this tug-of-war is surely going to turn out interesting.

Chelsea reject Liverpool’s bid for Ryan Bertrand

Bertrand is staying at Chelsea

Reports have surfaced that Chelsea have rejected Liverpool’s bid, outright, for young left-back Ryan Bertrand. Although the details of the reported bid have not come out, the attempt to sign Bertrand appears in sync with Liverpool’s policy of signing up English players and Brendan Rodgers’ ‘youth revolution’ that has been going on at Anfield this summer. The fact that Rodgers knows Bertrand, who has been touted as the successor of Ashley Cole, from his time on the coaching staff at Chelsea under Mourinho only gives credence to the reports.

Although Bertrand is only something of an understudy to Cole for now, he has had his opportunities at Chelsea. He was given a surprise starting berth in the 2012 Champions League final and featured for Chelsea no less than 19 times last season. Although a little shaky in defence at times, the young Englishman has time on his side and Chelsea will only be too willing to let him stay and develop as a home grown first teamer. It has been some time since a Chelsea youth academy graduate made it into the first team and although many such as Josh McEachran, Gael Kakuta or Gokhan Tore have been peddled as possible candidates, no one has actually gone on and achieved it. Bertrand has come closest and is willing to work his way through. When quizzed on this, he stated

“I want to be Chelsea’s No.1 left-back and when that time comes it will happen. All I can do is to be ready and keep playing; keep biding my time. I’m thinking of nothing else. To be honest, I am just focusing on being No 1.

I just concentrate on progressing in the games I get. I’ve managed to do so in recent years and that’s the only target. You have to be able to compete. That’s the way you develop at the top level. That’s just the way it is, and it’s the place I want to be. So I’m used to that. Patience is the key.”

With time and positive attitude in his stride, Ryan Bertrand looks set to continue and grow at Chelsea.